A BILL to amend and reenact §6-6-7 of the code of West Virginia,
1931, as amended; and to amend said code by adding thereto
a new section, designated as §6-6-7a, all relating generally
to providing procedure for removal of county, district or
municipal officers; providing procedure for removal of
members appointed to county or municipal boards, authorities
or commissions for a fixed term; requiring written notice of
intent to remove; allowing appointed member to object in
writing to removal; requiring a hearing when member objects
to removal; requiring written decision after a removal
hearing to include findings of fact and conclusions of law
removing or refusing to remove member of board, authority or
commission; setting time periods for certain actions;
authorizing appeal of decision to circuit court; requiring
written decision removing member who does not respond to
notice of intent to remove; authorizing appointment of
member to fill vacancy of removed member; and making
technical corrections.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §6-6-7 of the code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended,
be amended and reenacted; and that said code be amended by adding
thereto a new section, designated §6-6-7a, all to read as
follows:ARTICLE 6. REMOVAL OF OFFICERS.

§6-6-7. Procedure for removal of elected county, school
district and municipal officers having fixed terms;
appeal; grounds.

(a) Any person holding any elective county, school district
or municipal office, including the office of a member of a board
of education and the office of magistrate, the term or tenure of
which office is fixed by law, whether the office be elective or
appointive, except judges of the circuit courts, may be removed
from such office in the manner provided in this section for
official misconduct, malfeasance in office, incompetence, neglect
of duty or gross immorality or for any of the causes or on any of
the grounds provided by any other statute.
(b) Charges may be preferred:
(1) In the case of any county officer, member of a district
board of education or magistrate, by the county commission, or
other tribunal in lieu thereof, any other officer of the county,
or by any number of persons other than such county officers,
which number shall be the lesser of fifty or one percent of the
total number of voters of the county participating in the general
election next preceding the filing of such charges.
(2) In the case of any municipal officer, by the prosecuting
attorney of the county wherein such municipality is located, or the greater portion thereof, is located, any other elected
officer of the municipality, or by any number of persons other
than the prosecuting attorney or other municipal elective officer
of the municipality who are residents of the municipality, which
number shall be the lesser of twenty-five or one percent of the
total number of voters of the municipality participating in the
election at which the governing body was chosen which election
next preceded the filing of the petition.
(3) By the chief inspector and supervisor of public offices
of the state where the person sought to be removed is entrusted
by law with the collection, custody and expenditure of public
moneys because of any misapplication, misappropriation or
embezzlement of such moneys.
(c) The charges shall be reduced to writing in the form of
a petition duly verified by at least one of the persons bringing
the same, and shall be entered of record by the court, or the
judge thereof in vacation, and a summons shall thereupon be
issued by the clerk of suchthe court, together with a copy of
the petition, requiring the officer or person named therein to
appear before the court, at the courthouse of the county where
suchthe officer resides, and answer the charges on a day to be
named therein, which summons shall be served at least twenty days
before the return day thereof in the manner by which a summons
commencing a civil suit may be served.
The court, or judge thereof in vacation, or in the case of
any multi-judge circuit, the chief judge thereof, shall, without
delay forward a copy of the petition to the supreme court of appeals and shall ask for the impaneling or convening of a three-
judge court consisting of three circuit judges of the state. The
chief justice of the supreme court of appeals shall without delay
designate and appoint three circuit judges within the state, not
more than one of whom shall be from the same circuit in which the
petition is filed and, in the order of such appointment, shall
designate the date, time and place for the convening of suchthe
three-judge court, which date and time shallmay not be less than
twenty days from the date of the filing of the petition.SuchThe three-judge court shall, without a jury, hear the
charges and all evidence offered in support thereof or in
opposition thereto and upon satisfactory proof of the charges
shall remove any such officer or person from office and place the
records, papers and property of his office in the possession of
some other officer or person for safekeeping or in the possession
of the person appointed as hereinafter provided to fill the
office temporarily. Any final order either removing or refusing
to remove any such person from office shall contain such findings
of fact and conclusions of law as the three-judge court shall
deem sufficient to support its decision of all issues presented
to it in the matter.
(d) An appeal from an order of suchthe three-judge court
removing or refusing to remove any person from office pursuant to
this section may be taken to the supreme court of appeals within
thirty days from the date of entry of the order from which the
appeal is taken. The supreme court of appeals shall consider and
decide the appeal upon the original papers and documents, without requiring the same to be printed and shall enforce its findings
by proper writ. From the date of any order of the three-judge
court removing an officer under this section until the expiration
of thirty days thereafter, and, if an appeal be taken, until the
date of suspension of suchthe order, if suspended by the three-
judge court and if not suspended, until the final adjudication of
the matter by the supreme court of appeals, the officer,
commission or body having power to fill a vacancy in suchthe
office may fill the same by a temporary appointment until a final
decision of the matter, and when a final decision is made by the
supreme court of appeals shall fill the vacancy in the manner
provided by law for suchthe office.
(e) In any case wherein the charges are preferred by the
chief inspector and supervisor of public offices against the
county commission or any member thereof or any county district or
municipal officer, the proceedings under this section shall be
conducted and prosecuted by the prosecuting attorney of the
county in which the officer proceeded against resides, and on any
appeal from the order of the three-judge court in any suchthe
case, the attorney general of the state shall represent the
people. When any municipal officer is proceeded against the
solicitor or municipal attorney for suchthe municipality may
assist in the prosecution of the charges.

§6-6-7a. Removal of appointive county, district or municipal
officers with fixed terms.

(a) The governing body or officer authorized by law to
appoint any person to any county, district, or municipal board, authority, or commission, the term or tenure of which is fixed by
law, may remove any member appointed to the board, authority or
commission for official misconduct, incompetence, neglect of
duty, malfeasance or gross immorality in accordance with the
procedures set forth in subsection (b).
(b)(1) The member shall be given written notice of the
intent to remove the member from appointed office by the
governing body or officer which made the appointment. The notice
shall include the reasons for removal set forth with specificity
and the procedures by which the member may object to the removal.
(2) A member receiving a notice of intent to remove may
respond to the notice of intent to remove and request a hearing
before the governing body or officer. The response shall be in
writing and set forth the specific reasons why the member should
not be removed. The response must be received by the governing
body or officer within tens days of the member's receipt of the
notice of intent to remove.
(3) Upon receipt of a written response to a notice of intent
to remove, the governing body or officer shall set a date, time
and place for a hearing not more than tens days from the date of
receipt of the response from the member, and shall give written
notice of the hearing to the member setting forth the hearing
date, time and place no less than five days prior to the hearing
date.
(4) The governing body or officer which made the appointment
shall hear the charges and all evidence in support of or in
opposition to the removal. The governing body or officer shall issue a written decision containing findings of fact and
conclusions of law to support its decision either removing or
refusing to remove a member from a board, authority or commission
within five days of the date of the hearing. The written decision
shall be sent to the member and to the board, authority or
commission of which the person was a member.
(5) An appeal from the decision of the governing body or
officer may be taken by a member who is adversely affect by the
decision to the circuit court of the county in which the
governing body or officer is located in accordance with the
provisions of article five, chapter twenty-nine-a of this code
governing judicial review of contested cases.
(6) If a member receives a notice of intent to remove and
does not respond to the notice in writing within ten days of
receipt of the notice of intent to remove, the governing body or
officer shall issue a written decision removing that member from
the board, authority or commission effective the day following
the expiration of the ten day period to respond. A copy of the
decision shall be sent to the removed member and to the board,
commission or authority from which the member was removed.
(7) When a member is removed from a board, authority or
commission in accordance with the provisions of this section, the
governing body or officer may make an appointment to fill the
vacancy for the remainder of the removed member's term.

NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to provide a different
method of removal for county and municipal appointees to boards,
commissions and authorities which appointments are for a fixed
term from that method of removal for elected county or municipal office holders who are elected for a fixed term.

Strike-throughs indicate language that would be striken from
the present law, and underscoring indicates new language which
would be added.

Section 7a is new; therefore, strike-throughs and
underscoring have been omitted.